[soundtrack: Talking Heads, (nothing but) flowers ]
Wild mushrooms and berries are the true delight of Norwegian autumn. I've gone a bit crazy for the berries this year. I started picking cherries and gooseberries in late July, cloudberries in early August and black & redcurrants later in the month. Traditionally, the cloudberries are saved for Christmas dinner and eaten with sugar and cream, with a side of brandy and coffee. My favorite winter treat last year was raspberry soup with a touch of brandy and a dollop of sour cream. This year, the berries will supplement the dreary selection of fruits and vegetables with various berry sauces over warm rice or semolina pudding, in addition to the raspberry soup. These are the delights that are harvested now and eaten later.
Mushrooms, however, are plucked now and eaten now. Mushroom hunting is a nice excuse to get out in the woods on the last days of summer. Anders makes the best dinners with the mushrooms he finds, which makes it worthwhile to go out even in the rain for these tasty fungus treats. He cooks a bit of bacon in a frying pan and reserves the fat. He then slow cooks the mushrooms in the bacon fat, adding onions at towards the end of the cooking time. He'll then reserve the resulting sauce. The mushrooms-bacon-onion mix is heaped upon savory crepes or thick pieces of whole-grain bread. A bit of parmesan or blue cheese is added, then the sauce, and voila! a lovely autumn meal is served.
I still miss cider and the pumpkin treats that pop up in autumn Stateside. I still miss the vivid colors of the trees and the scent of fallen leaves. Just as it happened to me in Cairo, there are things I'll come to miss should we ever move from Oslo. The fresh berries and mushrooms are a few of the things I can name, and Lord knows what else.
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Take a break. I am.
4 comments:
We're in that limbo, shoulder season now. Summer's over, the light has changed, and there's a chill in the air in the mornings. But it's more tomato season than pumpkin time still.
Summer's not going without a fight this year, although it seems to be losing the battle.
I love your blog!
I found it through one of those meandering friend of a friend wanderings on the web. I've always harbored a secret desire to go live in Scandinavia (actually, not too secret, everyone knows about it). So I hope you don't mind if I look in and pick some cloudberries with you now and again.
sounds so lovely, mushroom and berry picking... idyllic even :-) I love the fall, its definitely my favorite season. Why is there nowhere like east coast stateside for that season? Like you say, there are things that make each place you travel to memorable; but I love the turning of leaves and change in the air and the quitening of the earth...
Have you brought along the Mountain Goats album Sweden? It's got a couple of references to the native berries, all of which sound melodic & tasty.
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